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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
256, Lot: 744. Estimate $100.
Sold for $190. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MALTA, Knights of Rhodes (Knights Hospitaller). Jean Baptiste de Lascaris de Castellar. Grand Master, 1636-1657. CU 4 Tarì (33mm, 7.32 g, 12h). Dated 1643. Countermarks from 1646 to 1741. Crowned coat-of-arms; sun to left, moon to right / Clasped hands within wreath. KM 68 for host coin; for c/m’s: KM 229; Restelli & Sammut p. 216-7. VF.


From the HLT Collection.

During the late 17th and 18th centuries, the Knights of Malta faced a serious problem with counterfeiting of their copper coinage. The administration attempted to alleviate this issue by continually re-validating the coins most counterfeited - the two and four tari pieces - by applying countermarks.

This specimen displays multiple marks: a double headed eagle (countermarked by Jean-Paul Lascaris Castellar, 1646), a head of John the Baptist facing slightly to left (by Rafael Cotoner, 1662), a crowned fleur-de-lis (by Adrien de Wignacourt, 1696), and a crowned crescent (by Emmanuel Pinto, 1741).